Daily Trust - The deputy director who wrote the speech in which President Muhammadu Buhari allegedly plagiarised quotes from US President Barack Obama will lose his seat in the Presidency, sources told Daily Trust on Saturday.

The Presidency had admitted that a paragraph in President Buhari’s “Change begins with me” speech was copied from Mr Obama’s.

It said a deputy director in the Presidency had accepted responsibility “for the insertion of the contentious paragraph”.

One of the sources told Daily Trust that “the deputy director may be asked to leave the Presidency”.

He said: “An investigation is going on and its outcome will determine the sanctions on those responsible. But the least will be the removal of the deputy director from the Presidency. He cannot work here. He may be asked to leave on Monday.”

Earlier the Presidency had said it regretted “the unfortunate incident” and promised to punish those responsible.

A statement signed by presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said: “This serious oversight will be investigated thoroughly and appropriate sanction meted.

“The Presidency wishes to state in the clearest possible terms that it regrets this unfortunate incident and will ensure that this does not happen again.

“President Buhari urges Nigerians to look beyond this incident and focus on the message of change,” the statement added.

The case was particularly embarrassing to officials in the Presidency, especially as it came at the time of President Buhari’s trip to New York, where he is expected to meet President Obama.

They are expected to meet on Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session.